“Hey! Blue Shoes!” That was my first greeting this morning as I headed out to Central Park, embracing my inner American and ditching my flip flops for more comfortable (and very blue) Nike trainers.  

Today I learnt two valuable lessons for New York life. Firstly, how to work the coffee machine in my apartment (it only took me two attempts and one YouTube tutorial). Anyone who has ever lived with me will recognise the mug in the picture below- one nostalgic item from home. 

 My second lesson was about the subway, or more specifically, the existence of about Express trains, which can go 75 blocks without stopping, as I learnt when my train travelled non-stop from 59^th St to 125^th St (my plan being to get off at 72^nd…). After doubling back on myself, I made it to Central Park, where I took a stroll past the many runners, cyclists and occasional roller skater braving the humidity. Further into the park, you can barely hear the traffic and you do forget you are in the middle of New York. Catch a glimpse of the “blue shoes” below. 

 I walked past the lake where you can hire boats- hopefully I’ll get a chance to do that before it’s shut for the winter, and up to the Shakespeare Garden and Belvedere Castle, which was originally built as a look out point and is now used to record the official temperature in Central Park by the National Weather Service- bet you didn’t know that! I must admit it was strange seeing an American flag fly from a castle as to me, that is a very British thing.

 The temperature was around 30 degrees by this point, so in desperate need of some air conditioning, I decided to check out the Museum of Natural History. It definitely did not disappoint , with dinosaurs, vast quantities of stuffed animals and a planetarium. 

Later on, I met up with Alex and Andrew (two of my colleagues) for a couple of beers (and some deep fried mac ‘n’cheese balls) in Tribeca and managed a stroll through Chinatown and Little Italy afterwards. It felt quite touristy but I would like to go back and explore a bit more.

 It’s my first day in the new office tomorrow so wish me luck!